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It’s time for Friday Whispers from Jets Confidential publisher Dan Leberfeld . . . no bull, just the good stuff . . . talk about it . . .
Tight end Matthew Mulligan needs to play better, especially with Jeff Cumberland (Achilles) out for the year.
He’s just too inconsistent.
The Jets second possession in Oakland started with Mulligan jumping offsides.
He was also beat off the edge by defensive end Jarvis Moss, and this led to a sack by another Raider because the pocket collapsed.
He also couldn’t come down with a pass in the end zone . . .
As I mentioned yesterday, if you are a Jets fan, don’t worry about what the Baltimore passing game did to St. Louis. The Rams secondary is awful. Don’t put WR Torrey Smith (one of the best kids you will ever meet and he’s overcome so much) in Canton just yet.
Did you know the Rams already have five defensive backs on injured reserve?
Doing show prep for my show on Sirius NFL on Saturday morning – there are a lot of teams with major issues at cornerback.
The Jets were very smart to make the trade for Antonio Cromartie and then re-sign him this summer.
He may not be perfect, but so many teams in the league with sign-up for the Jets combo at corner in a heartbeat . . .
I mentioned yesterday how banged up the Ravens are in the secondary with cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Dominique Foxworth out, and safety Hakuri Nakamura (yes, he’s Japanese, but born in the states). Also throw in the fact that cornerback Chris Carr is questionable for this game with a thigh injury, and the Jets have no excuse to not have success through the air.
Unless they try to force the ball to certain receivers to appease them.
Two weeks in a row Mark Sanchez forced passes to Derrick Mason that weren’t there, and this led to a pair of picks.
Now Santonio is chirping about getting the ball.
Boy is that bad for a quarterback’s mindset.
Just throw to the open guy . . .
Rex Ryan was asked a good question by a reporter this week – “Does the presence of nose tackle Haloti Ngata impact your decision on whether to play Nick Mangold (ankle) this week?”
Rex really didn’t answer the question directly, but I think it does.
If the Jets are on the fence about Mangold on Sunday, they might error on the side of caution, because Ngata is so darn massive, athletic and powerful, Nick could really be set back a few weeks by the Pro Bowler.
Rex knows this, and I do believe it will impact the decision . . .
I think the Raiders are in a little trouble this week against New England.
First of all, Tom Brady is a Northern California guy, so playing in Oakland is a big deal to him.
Secondly, he’s coming off a four interception game, and will be driven to make amends.
Thirdly, the Raiders pass defense isn’t very good right now and the Jets didn’t take advantage of that enough last week.
Can you imagine what TE Rob Gronkowski is going to do against ILB Rolando McClain after what Dustin Keller did to him last week?
The Jets will likely be facing a 3-1 Patriot team next week . . .
